Vintage Summer Snow #Cake Recipe with Strawberries and Cream

White as snow — or bright as the summer sunshine on your party patio! Yes! Dribble some fresh strawberries and cream over top and you’ve got a fluffy homemade white cake that’s tender and downy just like the scratch cake your grandma used to make. Throw in the fact that this recipe is over a hundred years old and similar to (or better than) that airy-go-lucky Angel Food Cake and you’ll have a winning vintage cake hit on your hands!

My son, Michelangelo, is home for a bit before he starts his Latin & Ancient Greek Studies at Berkeley (who knew!), Julie is having a birthday, and Granny Vi (our Queen) is always ready to party with friends and family.

The book was published in 1910 “in the interests of Cottonlene”, to promote the use of the cotton oil product in place of lard or butter. Although Cottonlene is no longer around, this little gem of a cookbook has lasted the test of time in part because 5 famous culinary experts were gathered together to share their recipes in the book: Mrs. Mary J. Lincoln (first instructor at The Boston Cooking School), Lida Ames Willis (edtitor at the Chicago Journal and Cooking Instructor), Mrs. Sarah Tyson Rorer (heading up The Philadelphia Cooking School, culinary editor and author, aka “Mrs. Rorer”), Mrs. Helen Armstrong (Cooking Instructor and Lecturer) and Marion Harland (aka Mary Virginia Terhune, novelist and cookbook author).

Although Snow Cake was around previously in forms similar to Angel Food Cake, this cake recipe was presented in the book by “Miss Willis” (Lida Ames Willis).

Go Gurl! Within a couple of years, by 1900, Miss Willis has advanced in her career…

We also see Miss Willis listed in the 1900 Census in Evanston at the same address. She was 39 years old, born in 1861 in Pennsyvania, single, living as a Boarder with Dr. Abbie Hinkle, the good doctor’s sister and widowed mother, a servant and the servant’s baby boy.

Famous cooking instructors at the turn of the Century didn’t have the Food Network or Top Chef TV shows to showcase their talents and teach their fans…BUT they had the bustling Home Economics Lecture Circuit…and American women were very interested in learning the home arts crafts and household management– so this was big business!

By 1911, the Miluakee Sentinel, reports huge crowds at the food show with our Miss Willis. She was was leading the bandwagon with her cooking and baking lectures!

The Cake Specifics: It’s similar to an angel food cake but with more cake-like oomphf. We modified the recipe slightly to substitute butter for shortening, and we used vanilla for flavoring — with an extra dash to yum it up. Otherwise, this recipe is in full charming vintage condition.

Secret Ingredient— Pure Starch! You will notice that the recipe contains a whole cup of corn starch (aka “cornstarch”) — a very fine powdery starch made from the white heart of the corn kernel. BTW, I said “white heart” instead of “corn endosperm” because the heart thing sounds way better, agreed? 🙂

This is the secret ingredient that Miss Willis added to the all-purpose flour in this recipe. You might have used corn starch as a clear sauce or gravy thickener in the past…or even a small portion in a cake recipe — but this is a large quantity. (I thought it was a typo at first!) And it works like a secret agent to tenderize the flour texture. This non-gluten and powdery starch (sometimes called “cornflour” by the Brits or “maize starch” or “maizena” in European parts of the world) adds a little tenderness and some body to a cake that is just a few egg whites short of an Angel Food Cake.

So don’t short-cut this ingredient cause it really does add a little tenderness! haha!

Put down your briefcases, put your cellphone on vibrate and put on your apron, cause we be baking now! 🙂

Set center oven rack to center position and pre-heat oven to 350.

Spray a tube pan with a spring-form (removable bottom) with cooking spray (or butter it well).

Chop into rough chunks and bring to room temperature (using the microwave for a few seconds):
3/4 cup unsalted butter (1-1/2 cubes)

Using an electric mixer, beat on high for about 3 to 5 minutes until light and fluffy:
the prepared room temperature butter
2 cups granulated sugar
Tip: I usually beat the butter separately first, but I followed this recipe with combined sugar and butter and it worked great, so let’s live the history and do as Miss Willis instructs. 🙂

Beat into the creamed butter/sugar mixture:
1 cup milk (in alternating portions with the dry ingredients coming in the next photo)

With the mixer on medium speed, blend in alternating quantities with the milk until thoroughly incorporated:
the combined dry ingredients
Tip: The batter will be thick and smooth and creamy-dreamy!

In a large mixing bowl, beat at high-speed until thoroughly fluffed (but not dry) about 1 to 2 minutes:
8 large egg whites (reserve the yolks for morning Eggs Pancetta) 🙂

Using a spatula, fold the egg whites into the batter with large over-hand strokes until thorough blended and fold in:
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract, fine quality

Scoop the batter into the prepared tube pan and smooth the top of the batter and pop it into the 350-degree pre-heated oven for about 35 minutes (up to even 45 minutes in some ovens) until golden brown and center toothpick (or longer) tester comes out clean (internal temperature about 185 degrees).

Oooh! Lookie what we get for tripping down history lane!
Tip: The cracks are normal so don’t fret (plus we’ll be flipping it over. Vintage cakes should look quaint and imperfect, BTW, so do not try for perfection. Leave that to the professional bakers. 🙂

Cool the cake in the pan for 20 minutes before removing.

We used a big cake flipper to move the cake around, but it handles (and travels) well.

A little soft-whipped heavy cream with some sliced fresh strawberries are a nice addition to the cake.

great research! I wish I’d looked at image search before the main google search and seen your blog sooner before finding Lida Willis in all the same directories. I just made her shortcake for my blog and its way less picturesque 😦
Wonderful blog, I see you may have moved on but I’ll have to peruse the archives!

Thank you Debi! Yes, I first thought it was a typo (which is quite common in old recipes) but the large amount of corn starch turns out to be the secret ingredient to tenderize the cake! haha! P.S. Love your Thursday’s Treasures! 😀